Midnight Rogue (book)
:For other uses of '''Midnight Rogue', see'' Midnight Rogue Midnight Rogue is a single-player role-playing gamebook written by Graeme Davis, illustrated by John Sibbick and originally published in 1987 by Puffin Books. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 29th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-032378-3). There are currently no announced plans to republish this book as part of the Scholastic series. Creation Had the working title Princes of Thieves till it was rejected by Ian Livingstone. - pg.17 Background - Back Cover ("Dragon" Edition)}} ''Midnight Rogue is set in Port Blacksand from City of Thieves and casts the player as a somewhat unheroic character — an apprentice thief undergoing the test for Guild membership. The task is to steal a valuable gem, the "Eye of the Basilisk", from a merchant named Brass. The adventure involves burgling a variety of locations in the city to gain clues as its whereabouts: once found, the protections put in place to guard the gem turn out to be an even greater test. Introduction The book in general follows the original rules set down in The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (see Game System). Unique Rules *The player can not carry more than six items at a time in their backpack, with the Provisons counting as one item. - pg.15 Together with the Potion, Hand-lamp, Torch and Tinder-box this means that at the start the player has one space available. *The book allows the player a choice of three from various special skills taught by the Thieves' Guild: some of these may also be acquired later in the adventure by the collection of useful items. The choices are: Climb, Hide, Pick Lock, Pick Pocket, Secret Signs, Sneak, and Spot Hidden. Equipment List - pg.13-15 *Shortsword *Leather Jerkin and leggings *Backpack *Hand-lamp *Torch *Tinder-box *5 Gold Pieces *10 Provisions *Choice of one of three Potions (see Game System for generic fantasy setting choices) Cover and Illustrations Covers The original cover of the book was designed and illustrated by John Sibbick. Illustrations The interior illustrations were by John Sibbick. There were 30 full page illustrations and 6 minor repeated illustrations (4 of which represent skills the player can choose from) scattered throughout the text. The paragraphs with a full page illustration were: 1, 13, 26, 45, 60, 74, 90, 104, 120, 134, 150, 156, 165, 178, 209, 219, 225, 238, 254, 261, 271, 280, 301, 316, 328, 344, 360, 375, 388 and 400. The colour map on the inside front cover was by Steve Luxton. Intertextual References The story introduces various characters who appeared in later Fighting Fantasy books. The merchant Brass, the clairvoyant Madame Star and the Thieves' Guild leader Rannik all appear in the sample adventure from the Advanced Fighting Fantasy book Blacksand!, in which a player may take part as a character from Midnight Rogue. Other Media Main Characters YOU: Hero of Midnight Rogue *Bald Morri - Landlord of The Rat and Ferret *Bargo the Wheeler *Brass - Merchant *Captain Marlin *Madame Star *Rannik - Guildmaster *Silas Whitebait Locations *Barrow Hill *Bridge Street *Catfish River *Clock Street *Executioner's Square *Field Gate *Field Street *Fish Market *Gallows Street *Harbour Street *Key Street *Lobster Wharf *Lord Azzur's Palace *Main Gate *Market Square *Market Street *Merchant's Guild *Palace Square *Port Blacksand *''The Rat and Ferret'' *Short Street *Singing Bridge *Stable Street *Street of Knives *Temple Street *The Noose *Thieves' Guild *Tower Street *Wall Street Encounters *Animated Corpse *Bats *Chest Creature *Crystal Warriors *Dog *Gargoyles *Ghouls *Giant Spider *Humans - Footpads/Guards/Guardsmen/Servants/Thugs *Jib-Jib *Ogres *Piranha *Poltergeists *Possessor Spirit *Scitalis *Shapechangers *Skeletons - Lord/Regular *Tangleweed *Unseen Monster *Wood Golems Further Notes *This was the first book in the series to have a cover depicting YOU. *''Midnight Rogue'' features a number of "fake" entries intended to discourage cheating (260 & 275 for example). These entries could not be accessed by anyone playing through the book fairly, and chided the reader for cheating. A further reference (158) is also designed to discourage cheating, but is accessible from another reference. This attitude towards cheaters may explain the inconsistencies between the text and the book's misleading cover, since part of the gamebook revolves around establishing the location of the jewel. The "errors" evident on the cover are: :*the Eye of the Basilisk is red on the cover but actually yellow in the book :*the Gargoyles (only one of whom is alive) are guarding the Merchants' Guild, whereas the cover has them guarding the Eye of the Basilisk :*the actual chamber with the Eye of the Basilisk is at the dungeon complex of Barrow Hill, not within Port Blacksand as depicted on the cover Errors *Of the three locations you can visit from (1), one of them has to be visited first if the player is to successfully complete the game. No prior indication is given as to this, and there is no reason why. There is no option to go to this location from the other two locations. *There is no reason why you need all three clues to get to the Eye's resting place. Two of them are identical and the third is irrelevant to the location. *It is possible to gain the Climb skill by acquiring a rope and grapnel, but there are subsequent passages which describe you using other methods to Climb. *It is possible to be sent back to (1) to start over again, thus repeating many of the scenarios. *What exactly is the point (161)? *Several items have no instructions as to whether they count as backpack items or not. This includes your hand-lamp, torch and tinderbox. 10 portions of Provisions take up the same space as 1. *There is no restriction on the number of weapons you can carry. Dedication none See Also *''Battle of Grey Rock'' *''Rogue Mage'' *''The Ring of Seven Terrors'' Reviews External Links *Character Sheet - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=11 Fighting Fantasy at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=73 Midnight Rogue at Gamebooks.org] - Retrieved 2019-10-26 *[http://web.archive.org/web/20050403185733/http://www.fightingfantasy.com/ffb29.htm Midnight Rogue at the Internet Archive record of the old] Fightingfantasy.com - Retrieved 2019-10-26 References Category:1987 books Category:Fighting Fantasy Original Series